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\u201cLucky me,\u201d Nas<\/strong> says when I mention that he\u2019s never lived in a world without hip-hop. At 49 years old, you might say that the rapper and the genre, which turns 50 this year, grew up together.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been great. I remember being a kid and hearing these rap songs and watching the break-dance thing happen and all of that, and all the way to where it became this huge, huge industry. It\u2019s great that I saw it develop into what it is today\u2014and you can still remember what it was,\u201d he says via Zoom from Los Angeles, nearly 3,000 miles and 29 years removed from Illmatic,<\/em> the critically acclaimed 1994 album that would eventually be inducted into the Library of Congress\u2019s National Recording Registry and kick-start a career that has resulted in a Grammy Award, film roles, his own investment firm, and a recurring place in the GOAT MC list.<\/p>\n To celebrate the anniversary, the artist, born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, partnered with Hennessy to design a limited-edition bottle<\/a> symbolic of the lifestyle, culture, and influence of hip-hop\u2013a somewhat natural collaboration as these things go, given his repeated name-checking of the cognac.\u00a0<\/p>\n